Confessions of a Writers’ Conference Director

That’s what one of my friends who runs conferences told me. She said I would cry after the conference was over. As in, such a relief of the build up and the tension and the COMPLETION all rolled into one. You hold it together for over a year, and then…then, there’s nothing to do. You’ve done it all. The game has been left on the field and the weekend is over. And yet you still feel like there is something left to be done. Like there is one more thing you have to do…but there’s not. The conference is over.

As many of you know, I was the director of the 2012 DFW Writers’ Conference. It’s an international conference that draws people from all over the world.

It’s also a lot of work. No, I’m not kidding. It’s like herding cats.

We started having meetings for the conference many, many months ago. What you see at the actual conference is the end results. I have to be honest, it’s a team effort. Everyone contributes and we argue over a lot of things. The odd thing is, we argue over the smaller things more than the bigger ones.

It’s not only a huge time investment, it’s also an emotional one. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is wrong.

But enough of that.

So I am near the end of the conference. I am sitting there in the final Gong Show on Sunday. We have a packed house. This was amazing to me, because typically, on a conference your attendance falls off dramatically on Sunday, but ours didn’t this year.

I am sitting in the dark room, listening to George read the pages for the Gong Show and I start to nod off.

Now, understand, probably about 50-75 people have stopped me in the hall over the weekend to tell me what a great conference they were having.

I didn’t know. How could I? While the attendees where enjoying the conference, I was running around, putting out fires, left and right. It’s a mental and a physical marathon. And you don’t get to rest at night, you get to entertain! (which is actually very fun!)

As part of the conference volunteers, we don’t get to see how well the conference is going. We just see the ugly warts. The seedy underbelly that others never see. So it was good to get that feedback.

Anyway. I almost fell asleep during the last Gong Show. No offense to George, I was just drained in every way you could be. And for some reason, my emotions started going up and down, dramatically.

I just happened to be sitting next to the person who told me I would cry when it was all over, because I would feel such a sense of relief/accomplishment that I couldn’t help myself. She reiterated it to me, and I exclaimed, “I’m not gonna cry!” she just smiled, because she’s cool like that.

So when the Gong Show is over, I go up to give the final remarks.

George turns to the audience and says, “And now with our closing remarks is this year’s Conference Chairman!”

And the applause started.

And then the first person stood up to my left.

I thought, “oh no. don’t stand up. just let me say a few things.”

And then another stood up.

And then they started standing up in groups.

And finally the entire place was giving me a standing ovation.

I almost lost it. Almost. I managed to control myself. It was an emotionally overwhelming event. They applauded me for a while, and then sat down, and I said a few chopped words. If I said any more, I would have broken down in front of them all.

Afterward, we cleaned up our stuff from the Hurst conference center, I went to dinner with James Rollins, then had him as a guest at my house. Then, took him to the airport.

I was still fine.

I got home and my wife asked me for a run down. She knew I was tired.

I gave her the rundown, and when I got the to the standing ovation part, I couldn’t continue and the tears came.

You were awesome, the conference was awesome… It was such an amazing weekend! I am so jazzed and pumped to write, and I actually had an agent request my work! I can’t describe how much this weekend meant to me (which is sad, as I like to pretend that I’m a writer), but just sleep the sleep of the righteous, knowing you and the rest of the group did a fabulous job.

Well look, dammit, if you’re allowed to get mushy and gooey, then so am I. Are you ready? Here it is: I spent the weekend surrounded by 300+ people, and it felt like the entire thing was put on just for me. It was phenomenal. YOU were phenomenal. And it’s my personal conviction that if you don’t occasionally cry about it, it’s either not important or you aren’t doing it right.

So grats you for doing it right! You’ve spoiled and ruined every one of us for all other conferences, of course, but most people will forgive you for that eventually.

I love Tex’s comment: “it felt like the entire thing was put on just for me.” That’s exactly it, Jason. One of the most important things you and your team achieved far better than any prior DFWcon is that you made the entire conference pivot around the attendees. Not the agents and the superstar writers. But the writers who came to do the hard work of stepping it up, in whatever way that meant for them.

We’d talked about a method whereby everyone, attendee, VIP, speaker, would feel the conference pivoted around them. Not sure if we accomplished our goal for all the great people who came, but glad we did for those who attended.

This was my first writer’s conference and it was amazing. In a small way, I understand the emotional turmoil of leading a group event like this, since in the past I’ve been the lead coordinator for a ladies retreat at church. Let me tell you, it’s not easy planning a weekend away for 100 women. So I can only imagine what it’s like planning a very large event for WRITERS (by nature a strange and sometimes difficult group of people, which I can say because I am one). You did a great job. 🙂

I love this post, Jason. I add my ditto to everything that’s already been said. I felt like the event was tailor made for me. Most of the weekend I walked around with a head that felt like it was about to explode (in a good way) from all the fabulous information and insights gleaned from the awesome speakers your team lined up. Thank you, thank you. This was my first conference and I’m an instant addict. Thanks for creating an environment where it felt safe to be a writer… to be me.

The conference was marvelous, Jason! I attended DFWCon last year and skipped the gong show; I did not make that silly mistake this year. Both years I’ve attended, the event has been professionally organized, advertised, and run. I especially appreciate the blog that DFWCon maintains to keep attendees updated beforehand. The diversity of speakers and workshops gives every writer something to learn, and it was often difficult to decide which class to take. I am looking forward to 2013! Thanks for all that you do. Many of us recognize that a lot of work goes into pulling off an event like this smoothly. Now…take it easy.

Thank you, Julie for the kind words. I was very pleased with how we pulled it off this year. It does take about a year to plan. And it never seems like we’ve got everything ready in time and are always just a minute away from disaster! So thanks for the kind words. Let’s us know we did our work right!

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